The objective of research in this laboratory is to determine the cellular mechanisms which control the assembly and organization of cytoskeletal proteins. The primary experimental materials for these studies are lines of cultured cells. In particular, neuroblastoma cells, which differentiate into neuronal-like cells in vitro, are used to study the patterns of microtubule protein utilization during neurite outgrowth. Major research goals include: 1) determining the synthesis, turnover, and intracellular distribution of a differentiation specific microtubule associated protein (MAP) in neuroblastoma cells; 2) examining the modification of tubulin in assembled, soluble and particulate cell compartments; and 3) analyzing the antigens with which autoantibodies to chromosomal centromeres react, and determining their role in microtubule initiation at the kinetochore.